A residential strike that killed 13
El Obeid, the capital of Sudan's North Kordofan state, is under growing pressure from a campaign of drone strikes attributed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and a possible ground assault may be days away.
The deadliest single strike in the latest wave hit a residential home in the Al-Jallabiya neighbourhood of El Obeid, killing at least 13 civilians — including eight children — according to the Sudan Doctors' Network, as reported by The Eastleigh Voice. Nine of the victims belonged to a single family. The group described the strike as "a new massacre" and said the RSF targeted the home directly. The blast extensively damaged neighbouring houses and sparked panic among residents.
The strike continues a pattern we [documented last week](/articles/2026-09-27-sudan-rsf-drone-attacks-kordofan), when the RSF intensified drone attacks on government-held towns across North Kordofan, including a courtroom in Um Ruwaba and a college in El Obeid. The United Nations says drone attacks by both sides killed more than 1,000 civilians in the first half of 2026, according to Reuters.
Services grind to a halt
The drone campaign is not only killing civilians — it is dismantling the infrastructure the city depends on. UN humanitarians warned on Monday that escalating violence in and around El Obeid is putting civilians at increased risk and disrupting essential services, The Eastleigh Voice reported, citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Between Thursday and Sunday, drone attacks targeted multiple locations in the city, including a power substation and a fuel station, OCHA said. The attacks forced the closure of several medical facilities — including dialysis centres and emergency departments — and shut down several water stations, OCHA reported, quoting the Sudan Doctors Network.
The strikes extended beyond the city. Local sources told OCHA that two bridges south of Um Ruwaba were targeted by drones on Sunday, and multiple drone attacks were reported the same day in Ar Rahad, southeast of El Obeid along a key highway. Strikes were also reported in North Darfur and White Nile states in recent days, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, OCHA said.
The compounding humanitarian effects are severe. Nearby in West Kordofan, a cholera outbreak is worsening amid limited humanitarian access and displacement: as of June 16, OCHA recorded 700 cases and 60 associated deaths, including 100 cases and 10 deaths since the start of that month.
An unprecedented buildup around the city
Behind the drone strikes, military sources report a large-scale RSF force movement. Sudan Tribune reported Monday that the RSF had mobilised large numbers of fighters from Darfur and West Kordofan — described by military sources as unprecedented reinforcements — supported by armoured vehicles and heavy equipment, and positioned them around El Obeid ahead of a possible ground offensive within the next 72 hours.
The stakes are high. El Obeid is a strategic crossroads linking Khartoum with western Darfur and has been contested since the war began in April 2023. The RSF blockaded the city early in the conflict; the Sudanese army broke that siege in February 2025 and has since turned the city into a key military operations hub for campaigns in Kordofan and Darfur. The RSF has been working to re-encircle it.
Sudan Tribune reported RSF positions at En Nahud, Al-Khuwei, Um Samima and Abu Ga'oud to the west; Kazgail and Al-Rayash to the south; and Bara and Jurayjikh to the north — a ring suggesting a possible multi-front attack. The RSF currently controls large parts of North Kordofan, with the exception of Sheikan, Um Rawaba and Al-Rahad localities, which remain under army control along the strategic highway linking North Kordofan with White Nile state and Khartoum.
In response, the Sudanese air force has intensified aerial operations targeting RSF positions and troop movements around El Obeid, according to the military sources cited by Sudan Tribune. Those same sources alleged that RSF drone attacks over the past three days destroyed around eight fuel stations and targeted fuel trucks in Al-Rahad and Um Rawaba, and hit ammunition and weapons depots within the headquarters of the army's 5th Infantry Division in El Obeid — attacks they characterised as efforts to weaken the city's fuel reserves and military supply capacity ahead of a potential assault.
El Obeid also remains a critical transit corridor for civilians fleeing fighting in western and southern Sudan, serving as a gateway toward White Nile state and Khartoum. Renewed clashes are driving further displacement from Dilling and Kadugli, amid fighting involving the RSF and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).
What to watch
The immediate question is whether the RSF buildup converts into the ground offensive military sources expect within days. If it does, El Obeid — a city of around half a million people — would face a full assault with its hospitals already closed, its water stations shut and its fuel reserves under deliberate attack. The precedent the world fears is El Fasher, which fell to the RSF in late October 2025 after an 18-month siege; the UN's Fact-Finding Mission concluded the assault killed at least 60,000 people.
Watch for: the pace of drone strikes over the coming week, any movement of the ring of RSF positions toward the city, and whether humanitarian agencies can keep any access open for a civilian population that has nowhere safe to go.
